Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Amendments to the Fabric and Button Barrette tutorial

There have been several people that have made the barrettes (including my self)that have had issue with the fabric button barrettes staying together. The problem that occurred most often for myself was buttons coming off, especially with the larger buttons.~I really want my barrettes to last. I presume most folks who are making them feel the same way so I have spent some time the last month or so coming up with solutions that are working for me. I have a few tips and some big button solutions plus a new design idea that I hope helps ease barrette woes.~Through my testing i discovered somethings that do not work. My first solution was to change glue for the buttons. The problem is you need a glue that lets you open and close and I have found the hot glue is most pliable after drying ( I only tried 3 glues)also most people have hot glue on hand this is supposed to be and easy cheap project. Not something you have to buy super specific materials for that you may not have another use for(I like multitasking craft tools). Next I just added more glue...more better? Nope, more is actually worse here(including the glue on the barrette. Experiment with this; using just enough seems to make the barrettes last the longest.....I do not know if it is the weight of the glue or what but it seems when there is an abundance of glue things come apart more easily.

~The next problem I wanted to try and resolve was the buttons coming off. I really only had problem with big buttons coming off again this was probably a weight issue. Barrettes with this size or smaller seem to stay just fine with just the glue. ~I tried sewing the buttons on. The problem here is when do you sew the button on? If you put them on the fabric first the positioning step gets wacky (harder) and if you sew them on after you glue the fabric to the barrette well putting needles through glue is not fun(or easy). The long and winding crafty road;

*I finally sewed the buttons on to a small piece of fabric

* then glued that to the barrette.

*If you do not want any fabric to show use a small scrap and match your barrette fabric closely.~ I also found sewing the button onto a small piece of fabric allows me to use shank buttons...I love shank buttons~ Using the shank buttons inspired me to make little fabric bouquets . This pair I have been wearing almost 4-7 times a week for 6 weeks and they are not showing any signs of degradation. ~I really love this bouquet idea because you get to use more little fabric scraps and shanks (which were off limits but now they are beautiful center pieces) This makes this project a super duper scrap pile and (single button jar) buster.*First design the bouquet*Sew it together with a few tight stitches*dab glue on end of barrette and apply bouquet

~Well that is my long winded crafty solution. I didn't want to put up a project that is cute but you cannot use or give-away for fear they may fall apart. Hopefully these tips will help anyone having barrette difficulty. I would love any feedback on what is working for you.

*The break down~A list of the tips and modifications*1.Modify your glue use to "just right" on all glued pieces2. sew small piece of fabric under larger buttons then glue that to barrette3. make button and fabric bouquets4.position your bling on the edge of the barrette5. leave an even 1/16-1/8fabric edge around barrette

Ah, I didn't realize there was an update! I made some of these for my niece's birthday several weeks ago and had a terrible time getting the fabric to stay on the binding clips. I finally made a "case" for the clip to slip into and it seemed to work better. I also worried a bit about the . . . rivet (for lack of a better word) at the point of the clip, and wondered if it would catch on fine hair if my niece pulled it out instead of un-ponging it. (yes, that's the technical term!) I plan to do a post on it one of these days and will link here. Thanks for updating!